ARTS
& ENTERTAINMENT

Dancer Joel Bray grapples with life between
worlds(ABC
News) Sept 12 - When British scientists first saw a platypus, some thought it must be
a hoax; when Charles Darwin first saw one, he took it as proof of his theory of
evolution — unable to fathom why an omniscient "creator" would make a
creature so similar to, yet distinct from, a water rat.

Anglican
Church

Gig economy denounced as 'evil' by
Archbishop of Canterbury(Sydney Morning Herald) Sept 13 - Washington: Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, the most senior
cleric in the Church of England, denounced the gig economy as "evil"
and accused Amazon and other tech companies of "leeching off" the UK
by avoiding taxes.

Religious
Violence

US-backed forces launch major battle
against Islamic State in Syria(Sydney Morning Herald) Sept 12 - Beirut: US-backed forces have launched what they hope will be the
final battle for territory in the four-year old war against the Islamic State
with an assault on the militants' last major holdout in the eastern Syrian
desert, the US military said on Tuesday.

Indonesia’s troubled minorities (The Age, Melbourne) Sept 13 - Meiliana, a 44-year-old Buddhist mother of Chinese descent, sat
crying in disbelief in a North Sumatra court in late August.

China cracks down on 'chaotic' religious
information online (The Guardian,
Australia) Sept 11 - China has drawn up new draft guidelines to crack down on the
“chaotic” and illegal online promotion of religion, the official Global Times
reported on Tuesday, part of a tough state campaign to bring religious worship
into line.

Uygurs call for sanctions over mass
internments (The Saturday Paper)
Sept 15 - In a theatre in Parramatta, about 400 people from Australia’s tiny
community of Uygurs – the Turkic people of China’s far western region of
Xinjiang – are gathered for a rare moment of recognition as their culture is included
in Sydney’s two-week festival of sacred music.

The real test of religious freedom today (The Age, Melbourne) Sept 12 – (Opinion: Robert Forsyth) Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s pledge to
take action to protect religious freedom should not be interpreted as caving in
to Liberal Party’s conservative base, let alone as serving the vested interests
of the Pentecostal community of which he is a member.

The Liberals’ religious right (The Saturday Paper) Sept 15 – (Opinion: Mike Seccombe) Mal Washer is no longer a federal Liberal
MP, which is probably just as well for him, because it’s really not his party
anymore.